Spring of Living Waters

Water  covers 71% of the Earth's surface, mostly in seas and oceans

It is vital for all known forms of life, even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. Eighty percent of the human body consists of water.

Water is commonly included in the ritual and ceremony of most religions—typically having a purifying function.  Religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Shintoism and Judaism, just to name a few, include ritual cleansing as part of their religious ceremonies. Washing with water held a considerable place in the Jewish temple-ceremony.

Greek philosophers believed water to be the original substance and that all things were made from it. The Koran states, “From water we have made all things.” Modern science believes life originated in water.

For Christians, baptism by water—itself a symbol of the grace of God—signifies spiritual rebirth. The word "baptism" comes from the Greek word meaning to plunge or to wash. Baptism is a symbolic ritual, identifying oneself with Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. In the story of the creation (Genesis 1:2) water plays an elemental part. Water is the only element that existed before the beginning of creation. It is significant that the Bible starts and ends with water!

It is estimated that by the year 2025, half the world population will be suffering from water shortage. By 2030 demand will exceed supply by 30%. Men fought wars over women, gold and land in the past. At present it is oil that could trigger a world war. ‘Water wars’ are a distinct possibility in the future. Great civilizations rose and fell on seashores or riverside. Historians believe the Indus valley civilization came to an abrupt end when their water sources dried up. The super cities of twenty-first century (e.g. New York, London) thrive on the riverside. The economic status of many countries is decided by the quantum of annual rainfall.

The Bible mentions water – directly and indirectly – about 600 times.

The Bible starts and ends with water! See Genesis 1:2 and Revelations 22:1, 2.

God had decided to destroy the ancient world in Noah’s days because ‘He saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil’. It was through  water that God accomplished this. ‘All the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened and  the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights’ - describes the Bible of the cataclysm. The ark Noah built to shelter himself, his family and his animals are considered a prototype of the coming Messiah, and  the salvation He had to offer.

The greatest and most spectacular miracle in the Old Testament was arguably the splitting of the red sea by Moses as he was leading the refugees out of Egypt. Forty years later Joshua would witness a similar miracle when the Jordan stopped flowing to let the children of Israel pass to the other side on their way to Canaan. During the time in between, Israelites rebelled twice against Moses and God, and both times the issue was water. St. Paul refers to the former incident and says in 1Corinth 10 that it was a mass baptism that the people went through.

The  heart-warming story mentioned in 1Chronicles 11:15-20 gives us a glimpse into David’s greatness: Three of the thirty chief men of David’s company went to meet David, who was at the cave of Adullam, while a company of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.  At that time David was in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was at Bethlehem.  David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” So the Three broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well at the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD,  saying, “Far be it from me, my God, to do this! How can I drink the blood of these men who risked their lives?”.

Free access to water was considered to be a great blessing in water-starved Palestine.  Jesus’ earthly ministry was launched during His baptism in Jordan River. His first public proclamation that He was the Messiah (called Christ) was at a well side before a Samaritan woman who had come to fetch water. It is here that he made the wonderful statement that he was the source of living waters. Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.  But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13, 14). Probably this was the first time that Jesus revealed His true identity.

Biblical references to the life-giving property of water are too many to mention here, but I will give a few samples:

Psalms 42:1 As the hart pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after You, O God.

Psalms 63:1 O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.

Psalms 36:9 with you is the fountain of life;

Jeremiah  2:13, 17:13 where God describes Himself “the Fountain of living waters”.

Zechariah  13:1  In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse sin and uncleanness. This is a pointed reference to Jesus and His offer of forgiveness.

Isaiah  55:1- 6 (the passage  is a call to everyone who thirsts to come to the waters and God’s promise of abundant blessings).

The first of Jesus’ miracles took place in Cana of Galilee where He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him (John 2:11).

Christ’s ministry of miracle works started at the wedding in Cana of Galilee where He revealed His glory (John 2:11) by turning water into wine. His disciple recognized Him as Son of God that day. Compare this miracle with Moses’ miracle of turning Egypt’s water into blood.  The law was given through Moses, grace and truth came from Jesus. Moses, who represents law and judgment, changed the drinking water of Egypt into blood. But Jesus converted the commonplace water into nutritious wine and demonstrated grace and forgiveness.

But His most ‘spectacular’ miracle was when He walked on water at the sea of Galilee in order to reach His disciple, recorded by three of the Gospel writers.  In a startling display of humility, He washed His disciples’ feet with water.

In John 3:5 Jesus told Nicodemus that “Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. St. Paul highlights the significance of baptism with water and writes to Romans (6:4) ‘’Through baptism we were buried with him into his death so that, just as the Messiah was raised from the dead by the Father's glory, we too may live an entirely new life”. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ (who introduced Him to the public as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world) was baptizing people with water. He told the people that Christ would baptize them with the Holy Spirit.

1John  5:6  says of Jesus “This is He who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by the water and blood”. A soldier pierced Jesus’ lifeless body on the cross and both water and blood flowed.

The terrible agony our Lord experienced on the cross culminated in His thirst. After that He had nothing to say, but to hand over His spirit into God’s hands. In spite of multiple theological interpretations of John 19:28 (I thirst), His thirst was real, physical thirst. Without food or water for several hours, exposed to the heat of the day, having lost a great deal of blood through scourging, piercing of nails and crown of thorns, severe dehydration had set in and He was truly ‘dying of thirst’.  The soldiers and bystanders were only keen on increasing the suffering of the prisoner and wouldn’t give Him a cup of water, fulfilling one more Old Testament prophecy (They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst – Psalms 69:21).  The creator who holds all the waters of the universe could not have a sip of water at His dying moment. Jesus had once given out the clarion call  “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me will have rivers of living water flowing from his innermost being (in John 7:37, 38) complained of thirst but no one gave Him a drink. The Fountain of Life died of thirst. He proclaimed in Mathew 5:6 Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.  He fulfilled God’s righteousness through His death on the cross. Also read Revelations 21:6. “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega--the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life”.

Commenting on the deplorable spiritual condition in Israel God told His prophet Jeremiah a long time ago ‘’My people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me--the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all (2:13). The sad situation persists even today. Jesus bought men for God with His blood, but men reject His free offer of salvation and chased idols and worldly pleasures. Remember the warning in Hebrews 2:3  - What makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?

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